


it ain't right and it ain't natural

by bluesandbirds



Series: do you hear the people sing? [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Niki | Nihachu, Dream Smp, Gen, Rebellion, i guess?, l'manburg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds
Summary: Niki in "Manburg" (or: local woman decides men are useless and starts a revolution)
Series: do you hear the people sing? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971895
Comments: 19
Kudos: 282





	it ain't right and it ain't natural

**Author's Note:**

> okay but like niki in manburg is essentially nala in the lion king. wilbur is simba. tommy and techno are timon and pumba. schlatt is scar.   
> 
> 
> inspired by chant from hadestown

_(Low_  
_Keep your head_  
_Keep your head low)_

The way to survive in ~~L'~~ Manburg is to look down and away. It's to nod along to Schlatt's mad ramblings and repeat _yes sir_ 's until your lips go numb.

The flag of Manburg is soulless and ugly. It's not a problem if you don't look up.

Wilbur and Tommy are gone.

Eret and Fundy are untrustworthy.

Tubbo stands proudly next to Jschlatt.

She looks around and wonders how it got to this.

_(Oh, you gotta keep your head low)_

Niki is a woman surrounded by men who all think they are Alexander Hamilton.

Wilbur with his words. Tommy with his hunger. Eret who claws his way to the room where it happens. Schlatt who does what it takes to survive.

Niki will take her place in the narrative, filling in the margins where she knows they don't want her. She will be Elizabeth Schuyler if that's how history writes her.

(Niki is kind and soft and loyal. She will watch them burn if she has to.)

_(If you wanna keep your head)_

On the day of the election, she is left behind.

Schlatt jails her for speaking out, for caring passionately about something other than office buildings and dress shoes.

Quackity argues morals with her, conflict painted clear across his face.

They allow her into the White House to wait before the meeting with Wilbur and Tommy.

She is surrounded by men. Men with all the power and the weapons. Who burn things down and call it freedom.

She looks the vice president in the eyes and she says:

_"I hope you **starve**."_

But this does not go unnoticed.

_"I'm also raising Niki's taxes. And just hers."_

_(Oh, you gotta keep your head low)_

Niki goes into hiding, a fugitive from scribbled-in laws.

She finds refuge in a place a young boy once made for the same purpose.

She thinks of her lost friends, sends them luck and offerings of help.

_"You whisper to WilburSoot: I will do everything for you to get your power back._

_You whisper to WilburSoot: For L'Manburg._

_You whisper to WilburSoot: And you."_

Everyday she waits for a response.

(One never comes.)

_I am keeping one eye on the sky and_  
_Trying to trust that the song he's working on is gonna_  
_Shelter us_

She is allowed back in ~~L'~~ Manburg. She doesn't know if it's some flicker of mercy from the tyrant or the pleading of his weak-willed Vice, but Niki enters the wall-less nation to no crossbows at her chest.

Every fiber of her being rejects it. Rejects putting on the _dress code_ and walking underneath that flag, but she is of no use to her friends if she can't survive herself.

She swallows bile and hate, and keeps sending her messages.

_I'm trying to believe_  
_That the song he's working on is gonna_  
_Harbor me_

Schlatt announces a festival.

Niki is no fool. Niki is no sheep.

On October 16th, her already broken world will change once more.

She grits her teeth and narrows her eyes.

It is now—two weeks after being betrayed and humiliated and abandoned—that Niki accepts the truth she'd tried to ignore all along.

Wilbur isn't coming. There is no plan. She is alone.

Fine.

_(From the wind, the wind, the wind.)_

Niki might not be the _Hero of L'Manburg_. She isn't the General or the King or the Blade.

Niki isn't Alexander Hamilton. But she can plan and she can write just as well.

So she does.

She sends one more message and this time she does not wait for an answer.

_"Dear friend..."_

**Author's Note:**

> i was gonna post this after epic iii but then niki posted her video and i was like damn okay
> 
> it's short and simple, but she deserves to be the main character for once. like tommy's always gonna be the "hero of l'manburg" protagonist boy and i love that for him, but niki deserves her story arc too.


End file.
